Broken
by Dream Fox
Summary: Hiei's a Broken, a Grim Reaper who has to gather the souls of the soon to be dead; Kurama's about to die. But the two meet and some unusual events and chemistry take place YAOI
1. Broken Spirit

Broken  
  
By Dream Fox  
  
Disclaimer: These characters belong to someone else; who, I don't know, but they're so lucky!  
  
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An invisible boy walked down the hospital hallway, counting the numbers of the rooms as he walked by: 423, 424, 425, 426.ah, here it was, number 427. Cautiously he poked his head through the closed door, and after a moment of glancing around the white hospital room, he pulled the rest of his body through the white, wooden door. "Ah," he thought, "it's wonderful to have no physical form."  
  
The room was overwhelmingly white, complete with white walls, white bed sheets, and a white lamp by the bed. Ah, yes, the bed, that was the object of his mission. Not the bed itself, naturally, you couldn't bring a bed to the afterlife. Not that he had heard of anyway. Well, there was that one case with the possessed computer that froze just after the user wrote something important, and was just about to save..but, that was a different story. No, his victim was lying in the bed, and if he could just get close enough to.  
  
He stopped dead in his tracks. Two, large, bright green eyes stared at him out of the red hair that fell around the eyes like a waterfall of blood. The face was tired, with black lines under the eyes from insomnia, and the hair fell like a tangled main of horsehair. But the eyes. ah, the eyes still carried a life to them, eyes that carried intelligence, understanding, and compassion. They were eyes that had seen thing, horrible things, and lived. Eyes that had laughed long and hard at funny jokes, so much so they had laugh-lines around the edges, and had cried hard nights in the times of death and despair. They were eyes that watched storms grow and rain fall and full moons and sunsets over the deep, green ocean, like the great, wet pools of the other boy's own eyes.  
  
It unnerved the invisible boy, those deep eyes, that almost seemed to look into his own eyes, which were not oceans of green, but pools of red blood, splattered against the black of night. His own eyes were like his death, almost a mirror, filled with darkness and terror and death. It saddened the invisible, for a moment as the other boy seemed to look into his eyes, that even if the boy could see him, he wouldn't see joy or beauty, only blood. Although he had never really cared to have a tangible body again, he couldn't help but think maybe it was best if he was dead, that no one could see his eyes again.  
  
But still the boy in the bed continued to "look" at him, even though it was impossible to see invisibles. Perhaps he was a sensitive, capable of feeling angels and ghosts and other spirits. The invisible boy had heard of such a people, although they were rare. It wouldn't matter in the end though, that's all that mattered: that nothing mattered in the end. Regardless of what happened it didn't matter, because in the end it would be the same. The boy in the bed would die and the invisible would carry his soul to the afterlife.  
  
The afterlife is what it was, mind, not heaven or hell or even purgatory or limbo. In the afterlife, it didn't matter what kind of a person you were, you went. Priests, serial killers, murders, the president, or the Pope. You went, you got a job, and you got to work. That's what the invisible boy was. A death angel, or a grim reaper, if you'd prefer to call it such. It wasn't a bad job, but neither was it fun. You saw a lot of bloody things, a lot of crying, and, of course, death. And because of the hardships of the job, it required a very special kind of person: a person who had lived a horrible life, died a bloody death, but still carried positive emotional energy. It requires a person who has lost touch with caring, love, and compassion, but still radiated those kinds of feeling. You had to be able to look at a person, see what kind of emotion they needed to be shown, and show it correctly. In other words, you needed a Broken, as they were called in the Otherworld. You needed a person who had, through hardship and death, lost touch with their innerselves, but were still able to correctly fake it.  
  
But despite how the invisible Broken acted, he felt his heart retch slightly when the boy lying in the bed looked up towards him. He wasn't sure if it was a slight, faint feeling somewhere deep in his heart, but he somehow passed it of as worry. "He can't see you," the Broken mumbled to himself. "Just remember, Hiei, he can't see you."  
  
"Um," the boy from the better spoke up, causing the Broken's heart to fly into throat. "Who are you?"  
  
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He first looked up when he felt someone come into the room. The door never opened, mind, but the wind seemed to shift slightly, as though a faint presence lay nearby, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and his hands tingle.  
  
Brushing his long red, orange hair out of his face, hair sticking slightly to his mouth so he had to tug it out, and opened his eyes. For a moment the world seemed blurry and disoriented, and was so white, for a split second he wondered whether he had died and gone to heaven. But no, there was too much pain to be there, too much agony still existed to be free to paradise. So he blinked a few times, trying to figure out where he was, vision slowly coming back under his own control.  
  
"A white lamp?" he wondered as the object next to him came into his vision. Oh, yes. He was at the hospital. No wonder.  
  
He turned his head, looking around the room, reminding himself of the lay out. Yes, there was the desk, the IV stand, the boy with the red eyes, the-- -wait! The WHAT?  
  
The red-haired boy glanced sharply back to the red-eyed boy, with the black and white hair standing in the middle of the room. He looked funny there, a black, dark clothed blob in the middle of an all white room. The clothes he wore were odd too, a kind of black tunic with a white sash and black boots, as well as a headband. His hair was a dark black, but in the center of his spiked tresses was a single starburst of white, and the red-haired could only assumed it had been died.  
  
The eyes of the other boy were the oddest of all. It wasn't their bright apple color that was strange, it was the look he gave off with them. The red-eyed boy looked around the room in what should have been a curious, or even calculating manner. But instead, the eyes held an odd kind of emptiness, as though everything the boy had ever seen was gone, and nothing mattered any longer. It wasn't despair or even sadness, because heaven knows, either of those would be better then the look he gave. It was just like a complete lack of emotion, as though, no matter what happened, it just didn't make any difference at all.  
  
As the other boy's gaze slid across the room, and fell upon the boy lying in the bed, something seem to click behind the eyes. It wasn't happiness, relief, or even anger, it was just the slightest change in how he held himself, how he watched the red-head out of his own deep red eyes, and how he viewed the boy himself.  
  
"Um," the red-haired boy began. "Who are you?" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Hey everyone!  
  
I bet you're all so happy to see I finally got a new story out! Actually, like quite a few of my other fanfics, it started out with non-YYH characters, or any other fanfic characters for that matter.  
  
Also, if you haven't read my other stories, I suggest you do! I've got quite a few YYH, one major yaoi and all about Kurama and/or Hiei. Also, I've got a new Demon Diary, and an old Inu-yasha!  
  
Enjoy and Talk soon! Dream Fox 


	2. Broken Body

Disclaimer: You all know the deal: don't own it, yada yada yada

The Broken froze in shock, unsure of how to react. The red head had TALKED to him, talked when he shouldn't even have been aware of his presence. An odd feeling overcame him as he wondered in astonishment that this was the first time since his death day that he had talked to a live human.  
  
Turning around slowly, the black haired boy checked behind him to be certain it was indeed him the boy in the bed was talking to. Seeing no one behind him, he looked back at the other boy with wide eyes. "Are you talking to me?" he asked, astonished.  
  
The redhead rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No," he said sarcastically. "I'm talking to the ghost behind you."  
  
The broken frowned. Ghost? There weren't any ghosts behind him, he would've sensed them. What was the boy talking about?  
  
At his weird look, the redhead laughed. "I was joking!" he cried. "Don't take everything so seriously!"  
  
"Oh." The black haired boy frowned. Joking? What was so funny? This human was puzzling.  
  
"What's your name?" the boy lying in the bed asked, smiling softly.  
  
"Hiei," he replied, still frowning slightly, confused at what the boy wanted with him. Did he know who he was, or didn't he?  
  
"Well, Hiei, would you like to sit down with me for a while?" He smiled at the broken with such a hopeful look he could not help but comply. Taking a careful seat at the end of the long white bed near the boy's feet, he looked up, checking for a reaction from the odd boy.  
  
The boy, for his part, looked overcome with happiness at the prospect of a visitor. "It's so nice to have someone come and say hi," he told Hiei cheerfully. "I don't have many friends, so Mother is really the only one to come and visit. Even though she comes everyday and it's nice to see her, she just isn't..." He stopped, looking for a word.  
  
"Much fun?" Hiei offered.  
  
The boy practically beamed. "Exactly. It's so nice to meet someone who understands. I'm Kurama, by the way."  
  
"Oh," Hiei said, unsure of how to deal with the boy.  
  
"Why'd you come in here anyway?" Kurama asked, a puzzled expression adorning his face. "You couldn't have come for me."  
  
"I way...looking for someone," Hiei shrugged.  
  
"Oh?" Kurama looked interested. "Who? Maybe I could help? I know my way around the hospital pretty well, been here most of my life."  
  
"I don't know," Hiei shook his head in doubt.  
  
"Come on, please? I'd really like to help you."  
  
"It's not that," Hiei told him. "It's just that I don't know the person's name."  
  
"Oh?" Kurama frowned, although if it was because of a way to solve the problem or the problem itself, Hiei was unsure. "Well, if you could describe the person to me, maybe I can..."  
  
"No, I don't know what they look like either."  
  
The other boy smile with mischief. "So you don't know his name, or what he looks like, assuming it IS a he. What do you know about this person then?"  
  
"They're supposed to die soon," Hiei said, then winced. Shit, he swore. He searched the other boy for a reaction to what he said. What was he supposed to say, that he was a broken? That he had some weird psychic ability?  
  
The other boy just laughed out loud, head thrown back and hair tossed wildly about his face. The broken could only gape at the other's odd reaction. Was he hysterical? It had been so long he had been around humans he had begun to forget how they act and that lack of knowledge scared him.  
  
"Hiei," Kurama choked out, after he finally got in control. "Everyone in this wing of the hospital is going to die soon."  
  
"Oh?" Hiei asked, relieved the other had misunderstood his slip. Then he frowned in realization. "Even you?" he asked.  
  
The other sobered slightly and looked the Broken strait in the eye. "Hiei, we all die. Where or when, that's debatable. But one day the Grim Reaper will take our souls from our bodies and the boatman will take us across the river Styx."  
  
Hiei nodded in agreement. He was, after all, indeed the "Grim Reaper," another of his many nicknames. "What are you in here for, if you don't mind me asking."  
  
"Weak heart, high blood pressure, low blood sugar, the list is endless. Technically I could probably live at home, but I probably won't live to see twenty. Don't worry though," he smiled seeing Hiei's worried expression. "It's always been like this. I'm used to it."

Hey adoring fans!  
  
I know, I know, it took me MONTHS to update, but I'm starting to get into fanfiction again, so there will probably be more things again soon. I'm thinking of starting a full metal alchemist one, or maybe wolf's rain. What do you guys think?  
  
I'm updating some other stuff tonight as well, so check out my other stories. Some our updated right now, but other's will be updated late this evening, so check tomorrow morning as well.  
  
Dream Fox


	3. Broken Soul

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Disclaimer: We've been through this ten million times, so I've run out of witty things to say...

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Kurama watched the boy carefully for a reaction to his impending doom. He tried desperately to appear relaxed about the situation, and did a moderately good job of looking calm. Maybe he was simply tired of fighting the inevitable.  
  
Hiei only looked at him in bewilderment, as though he didn't know quite what to make of the other boy. "Death doesn't scare you?" he asked in astonishment.  
  
Sighing deeply, the redhead sobered slightly. It was refreshing, meeting someone who didn't know everything about his situation. Someone who wouldn't tread carefully about him, both physically and mentally, as though he were a glass doll that might brake with the slightest movement.  
  
At the same time, it was tiring. The questions he asked caused Kurama to question himself in ways that he was generally trying to avoid. If the situation called for it though, and if it was going to keep the other boy from leaving him for a while, then it was most defiantly worth it.  
  
"Well," Kurama replied carefully. "It doesn't scare me, per say. It's more that the...questionable end is more frightening then the end of my current life." He laughed, although it was clearly forced. "After all," he said, raising his arms to motion at his bed, "What kind of a life is this?"  
  
Hiei watched carefully, as though seriously considering the other boy's response. Then he nodded in understanding and replied with another question. "Are you just used to it then?"  
  
"I wouldn't put it quite like that," Kurama said, wincing slightly. The question was a good one, although the idea of becoming used to death scared Kurama in a way death itself did not. "It's more that my death is so...inevitable that I've simply come to terms with it. Everyone dies, but for most people it's just a far off dream, more of an....impossible legend then a fact. Children, particularly, live in a world all of their own, where, even if everyone around them dies, they themselves won't because it doesn't happen to them, only other people."  
  
The redhead sighed deeply. "Perhaps it's simply that my entire life I've lived with the very realistic possibility that I could die any moment, that it would be so easy."  
  
He laughed again and once more was it sounded forced. He shook his head, as though shaking loose something that was lodged deeply into the very back of his mind. "I remember," he commented, "that I was never quite allowed to act like a child at all. I have always been very sickly. I wanted to go out and play with the other children, but either I had a fever, or not enough energy, or was simply not able to walk. I've completely lost my ability to walk now," he told Hiei casually. "Nerve problems, the doctors said."  
  
Hiei frowned. "But why—?"  
  
The opening of the door cut him off. The broken froze in horror as Kurama looked up obliviously at the woman entering, a happy smile adorning his face. This was not good.  
  
"Hello Mother!" The redhead greeted happily, grinning up at the pretty, black haired woman entering the room as she closed the door softly behind her and took a seat at the edge of his bed.  
  
"Good morning, Kurama dear," she smiled down at him. "My, you're looking happy today."  
  
Hiei knew what he had to do. If this conversation progressed much farther, then something very bad was going to happen. There was only one option, one emergency "exit" so to speak that he had never employed before.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he imagined feeling. The wind across his hair, the sheets of Kurama's bed beneath him. The taste of his own saliva in his mouth and the softness of his own clothes around him. He opened his eyes, still unsure of his success.  
  
"I made a new friend today," Kurama was telling his mother. "This is Hiei," he smiled at the other boy, motioning with his hand. His mother's eyes opened in surprise, and for a second Hiei thought he had failed and Kurama would be carted off to the insane asylum.  
  
"Oh, hello Hiei," the redhead's mother greeted softly. "I didn't notice you there."  
  
I'm sure you didn't, Hiei thought to himself allowing himself a slight turn of the head to acknowledge her presence. Then he turned to Kurama. "I really ought to be going ," he said. "I still have to find that person you know."  
  
Kurama frowned. "You don't have to go, you know," he told the other boy. "I'll still help you."  
  
"That's okay," Hiei shook his head. "I wouldn't want to trouble you. See you later."  
  
Then he completely forgot, and walked straight into the door. Cursing slightly and waving off Kurama's concern, he opened the door and stepped back out into the hall, making himself invisible once more. It was too weird, being solid.  
  
Then he noticed something. Next to the door were the other boy's health papers. It was mostly boring gibberish understood only by the nurses and doctors, but the Broken was suddenly stopped when he came down to the bottom of the paper.  
  
There written in perfectly neat type it said:  
  
Expected lifespan: Under a month

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Loyal fans,

I know, I know, I've been terrible about updating. And it's not even that I'm not reading fanfics anymore, it's just that I don't know where to go with most of my stories. Well, I have a general idea, but how do I get the characters there? It's too hard! So, my stories haven't been updated very often. But I will tell you, I haven't dropped them! I still need to fix up the recent chapters of "Fox Child" as it's quality has been deteriorating, I know this, so you needn't tell me. I haven't the faintist idea about what to do about "Fire Thief" so if anyone has any ideas, PLEASE email me. "Don't the Dead" has essentially been dropped and I'll probably take it offline. Everything else I'm hoping to continue. Also, I'm getting a webpage up soon, so I'll let you all know when that's up!

Thanks and Sorry for the delays! Huggies

Dream Fox


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